Decentralized Search in Scale-Free P2P Networks

Search in peer-to-peer networks is a challenging problem due to the absence of any centralized control & the limited information available at each node. When information is available about the overall structure of the network, use of this information can significantly improve the efficiency of decentralized search algorithms. Many peer-to-peer networks have been shown to exhibit power-law degree distribution. We propose two new decentralized search algorithms that can be used for efficient search in networks exhibiting scale-free design. Unlike previous work, our algorithms perform efficient search for a large range of power-law coefficients. Our algorithms are also unique in that they complete decentralized searches efficiently even when the network has disconnected components. As a corollary of this, our algorithms are also more resilient to network failure.